


beginnings

by haetae



Series: wanderer from the steppe [5]
Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Au Ra Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV), Gen, Gratuitous Use of In-Game Dialogue, Mooks Being Punched, Trans Male Character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-28
Updated: 2019-02-13
Packaged: 2019-10-18 04:43:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17574119
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/haetae/pseuds/haetae
Summary: “S’rry,” Masaki murmurs, and fishes out two gil from his pocket. “C’n pay f’r th’mess.”Momodi buries her face into her hands.--There’s a new adventurer in Ul’dah and everyone keeps staring at his horns. What, like they’ve never seen an Au Ra before?





	1. arrival

**Author's Note:**

> i wrote this at midnight bcs i rlly wanted to show more of masaki's personality pls enjoy

As the hot sun beats down on the backs of Ul’dahns, both merchant and refugee alike, a strange-looking traveler steps past the Gate of Nald.

He glances around, much like a newcomer, and hunches in on himself despite being six fulms tall. Just as the traveler takes a few more steps into Ul’dah proper, a shout grabs his attention. He swivels his head and sees a strange hyur with dark glasses waving him over. For a moment, he pauses. Should he go near that person? The hyur is shorter than him and looks weak, so he can take him in a fight if needs be.

Satisfied with this, the traveler goes over.

“You’re new around here, aren’t you?” the hyur says without prompting.

The traveler blinks, but he nods silently.

The hyur makes a derisive sound and his glasses gleam ominously in the bright sunlight, somehow. “Tis plain with the way you look like a lost lamb. If I let you go wanderin’ off down the nearest dark alley, you’re certain to get mugged or worse, an’ I don’t want that on my conscience.”

The traveler’s expression instantly sours. He still doesn’t say anything in his defense, judging from the way he slides his gaze away from the strange hyur.

Suddenly, the hyur shoves his hand out at the traveler. The traveler stares warily for a long moment.

“What, never seen a hand before?” the hyur teases. “Just shake it―the name’s Wymond, by the by.”

The hyur―Wymond―takes the traveler’s hand, again without prompting, and shakes it vigorously before releasing him. Then Wymond juts his chin out to a nearby building, where there are two staircase leading up to a pair of doors.

“Before you do anythin’ else, you’ll want to head over to the Quicksand, an’ speak with Momodi. She’s the master of the Adventurers’ Guild, an’ can set you on the right path.” Wymond settles back in his spot with crossed arms and a lackadaisical smile. “An’ that’s all you’re getting for free. Good luck, adventurer.”

The traveler is somewhat bewildered by this introduction, but he responds with a hesitant nod and bids Wymond a silent farewell.

… Why does everyone call him an adventurer though? Do they not have normal travelers anymore? The traveler furrows his brow as he walks through the double doors Wymond pointed out―and finds himself in a _bar_ of sorts.

His body goes rigid. _Stupid_ ―he was stupid. He shouldn’t have come here. He should’ve gone somewhere else. But, before he can turn tail and run for it, another voice calls out to him.

“‘Ey―you new? Come in, come in! Take a seat!”

The traveler squeezes his eyes shut. He wishes he can just ignore that voice and _escape_ but he can’t, because that’s rude, and he doesn’t want to make a bad impression on some poor stranger. With a deep inhale, he slowly turns around. A very tiny person beams from behind a bar counter and waves him over. He can feel everyone in the establishment staring at him now. Gods, is he _that_ noticeable?  He pulls the cloak up over his jawline and hurries towards the bar counter.

Up close, the very tiny person seems even tinier from where the traveler is standing. How do these people survive being so  _small_?

“Are you one a’them adventurers?” The very tiny person asks, ignorant to the traveler’s worries for her life. “If you’re here lookin’ for the Adventurers’ Guild, you came to the right place!”

She pulls out a rather thick, worn tome from under the counter and sets it in front of him.

“The name’s Momodi, and I own this here fine establishment, if it please you.”

The traveler is sweating bullets. He _really_ does not like the fact that this… Adventurers’ Guild is in a _bar_ of all places. He kind of wants to strangle that Wymond character, but he tacks on a small smile for now.

Momodi seems to approve, because she smiles back and that eases his nerves a bit.

She goes on to explain her job as the master of the Adventurers’ Guild and the… many, many problems that plague Ul’dah at the moment. The traveler frowns as he soaks in this information, wondering what is this previous Calamity that everyone is talking about. Was it that light he saw when he first landed in Limsa Lominsa? Before he thinks overmuch about it, a tap on his hand brings him back to reality.

Momodi smiles at him, warm and kindly, as she holds out a… feather? What is that black _thing_ dripping from its end? The traveler squints at it.

Momodi’s smile begins to waver.

“What, you never seen a quill before?”

The traveler panics. Oh gods, he’s already messing up somehow. He doesn’t say anything and, instead, snatches the quill from her hand and scribbles something on the tome. Momodi blinks, bewildered, but she seems to shrug off his odd response as she turns the tome over.

She narrows her eyes at his scribbling for a long, uncomfortable moment. The traveler wonders what could be the trouble.

“… Erm. Does this say Masaki…?”

The traveler, unsure of anything at this point, just nods rapidly. Yes, it might as well say “motherfucker” for all he knows.

Momodi gives him an odd look before she shuts the tome and gently plucks the quill from his fingers.

“Masaki Qestir… rolls off the tongue an’ all.” Momodi’s smile brightens. “All right! On the behalf of the Adventurers’ Guild, I officially―”

She’s cut off by a commotion from the bar area. Both she and Masaki turn to see a whimpering man pleading for mercy from what looks to be a debt collector.

“Please, sir, be merciful! Twelve as my witness, I swear to you, I’ll bring you your money!”

“In the East, it is said that even a merciful god might be driven to vengeance if thrice blasphemed. Be grateful you were given a fourth chance to offend.” Then the collector turns to the intimidating guards behind him. “You two, attend to this scum.”

“No, please, mercy―!”

Before Momodi can say anything, Masaki storms towards the commotion. The collector turns and raises an eyebrow at the new interruption. His guards stop in the middle of manhandling the pleading man to stare at the strange traveler too.

“And who might you be?” the collector sneers, turning his nose up haughtily.

The horned traveler says nothing as his eyes flicker to the burly hyuran guards.

Then, suddenly, he snaps towards them. Both guards can’t react fast enough. They’re thrown back from the sheer force of his punches and crash into occupied tables. The patrons scatter from their broken tables, terrified and in awe.

The horned traveler reels back his fists and turns to the collector, who stares in shock with the rest of the patrons.

“Leave,” he growls, pulling back his lip to bare pointed fangs.

That’s all that needs to be said, apparently, because the tiny collector sprints out of the establishment. Meanwhile, the collector’s guards groan in pain and barely move from their spots. The whimpering man shivers as the traveler slowly turns to him. Maybe the man is next and he’ll meet the same fate as the guards. He braces himself.

Instead, he slowly kneels to meet his eye level.

“Okay?” he asks. The man nods vigorously. Though the traveler’s mouth is covered, the man can see the corners of his striking eyes pinch in a smile.

He nods, then rises to his feet and walks back to the counter, where Momodi stares mutely.

“S’rry,” Masaki murmurs, and fishes out two gil from his pocket. “C’n pay f’r th’mess.”

Momodi buries her face into her hands.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which the coco brothers.... are themselves.

The first two days as an Ul’dahn adventurer are nightmarish.

 _Everyone_ he meets can sniff out the new adventurer smell on him or something and foists errands upon favors upon chores off to him like he’s some kind of pack mule. Work out this married couple’s problems here, beg for free ethers there, chase off some bandits over there―Masaki has never been so thoroughly worked until now. It boggles his mind how helpless and lazy these Eorzeans can get. Wouldn’t things be much more efficient if they’d bother to share resources? Or have a khagan who actually mediates matters between people instead of relying on strangers to fix everything?

He grumbles as he helps set down another pack of merchandise for one of those tiny people―lalafell, he thinks they’re called.

“Thank you―here is your pay!” the little merchant chirps and gestures for Masaki to bend over to drop a few coins in his hand.

Masaki stares at the coins and feels himself scowl.

Another thing he notices: people in Ul’dah charge a leg and arm for their wares, but pay little for others’ goods―services in particular. Ridiculously little, in fact. The squat shite in front of him even _smiles_ like three coins for hours of back-breaking work is _proper_ pay, and that makes Masaki want to punch the little shite merchant’s face. But before Masaki can find the words to express his displeasure (because gods know punching a tiny person in broad daylight like this will have the Brass Flames on his arse within seconds), the merchant gasps something about time and hurries off with the cart that Masaki painstakingly packed.

It’s amazing how fast the tiny people in this city are. Masaki grumbles and stuffs the coins in his pocket before sauntering off to the Adventurer’s Guild. Hopefully Momodi might have better advice for him about these sorts of things―though, he gets the feeling he might not have given her a good first impression. He chews his lip in thought and ducks his head as passersby stare at his horns and scales and tail. It’s like no one around here has ever seen an Au ra before, let alone a Xaelan!

Masaki can’t be more relieved when he finally arrives at the Adventurer’s Guild―at least, he _thinks_ it’s the Adventurer’s Guild until he steps inside.

There’s a giant statue in the middle of the room. And it’s _dark_. Not that he minds, but he’s sure that Momodi likes to keep her place well lit and relaxed. This place feels more… ominous.

Then it finally hits him that this is the Thaumaturge’s Guild when Cocobuki peeks out from around the corner.

“Oh―minion! Perfect timing, we need an extra hand.”

Masaki levels a flat look at the impertinent lalafell. Or, well, technically this little person is his _teacher_ but he hasn’t learned a lick of anything _useful_ since joining this guild. It’s beginning to grate on his nerves, even as he follows Cocobuki towards the odd spot behind the towering statue.

“Oh, good!” a voice chirps from behind a tall pile of tomes. Cocobezi pokes out from behind the pile. “Saki—you’re tall enough, yes? Help us get some tomes from this tall shelf, will you?”

Masaki rolls his eyes.

“Can’t read,” he grumbles.

Another Coco brother, who lazily pages through a thick grimoire on the desk, harrumphs. “See, thaumaturgy requires an intimate understanding of aether. You cannot begin to further your progress without studying these tomes thoroughly!”

Cocobuki clucks his tongue. “Now, now, Cocobygo, don’t be so uptight. Gods know _you_ could use some studying as well. You’re still awful at transposing between Astral Fire and Umbral Ice.”

“Rude.” Cocobygo mutters without looking up. “Maybe if you didn’t hog all the ethers—”

“Anyway,” Cocobani cuts in, idly twirling an old wand. Its gem looks tarnished from overuse. “Masaki, we have another task for you.”

Masaki withholds a groan and, instead, raises an eyebrow at the Coco brothers. What is it now? He and Cocobani ignore Cocobezi’s and Cocobygo’s protests as Cocobuki paces off to the side, his arms crossed and his visible eye creased in concern.

Cocobani looks up. “Stop Cocoboha from making a fool of himself in front of Momodi.”

Masaki jerks back and blinks slowly. What? Now that he looks closely, one of the Coco brothers are indeed missing from his usual perch. He’s with Momodi? What for?

Cocobygo instantly forgets his one sided argument with Cocobuki and grins widely. “No, no—let the fool embarrass himself! He deserves it for skipping out on lesson planning last week.” Cocobygo makes a disgusted face. “Besides, if he  _finally_ stops gushing about her, we can all have some peace and quiet.”

“But doesn’t Momodi have connections with the Alchemist’s Guild?” Cocobezi pipes up. “What if he screws it up so bad that even Busi can’t smuggle—I mean, gift us with free ethers anymore?”

All of the Coco brothers’ faces blanch at that. Cocobuki is the first to recover when he turns to Masaki with a grave look in his eye.

“Minion,” he says and Masaki snorts, “you _must_ prevent this disaster from happening!”

Masaki can’t help but wonder how this bunch of siblings keep the guild running. He heaves a deep, exasperated sigh, rolling his eyes, and gives them a sarcastic salute. Just as he turns on his heel to leave, he feels something tug as his pants. He turns around to see Cocobani offering the same wand he had been playing with earlier.

Masaki quirks his mouth in confusion and takes the wand—and sees that the wood and gem have been polished to look new.

“I figured it’s past time to replace that old rod of yours.” Cocobani says in that flat voice of his. “Hopefully this will serve you better in… _persuading_ our brother.”

Masaki stares blankly at Cocobani for a long moment, shakes his head, then walks out of the guild. Seriously, these Coco brothers are weirder than his old teacher and that’s saying something.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> o<-< halp school is killing me


End file.
